The Conservative Party best understands the requirements of the financial services industry, advisers say.

The FSA says it will spend almost £350m on staff costs in the coming financial year after confirming it is hiring an extra 460 individuals to deliver its "intensive" supervisory approach.

Outgoing FSA chief executive Hector Sants today said society "must accept" a larger and more expensive regulator if it wants more done to lower market risks.

A decision by the US Federal Reserve to keep interest rates on hold boosted sentiment in London this morning.

The World Bank has raised its 2010 economic growth forecast for China by 0.5% to 9.5%.

A bank clerk who stole money from a sick and elderly customer went on the run yesterday just hours before her sentencing.

A key witness in the damning inquiry into Lehman Brothers' collapse was laid off by the bank a month after raising concerns about the way it had accounted for $50bn of risky loans.

A forecasted exodus of The Money Portal (TMP) advisers following the business' liquidation and sale to Honister Capital last year "never happened", strategy director Alan Easter says.

Investment fund advertising is as bad as promoting cigarettes or alcohol and should either be banned or accompanied by a health warning, Succession Advisory Services' Simon Chamberlain says.

A newly-formed industry association has been set up in Australia - but only 14 firms have so far met its strict criteria for independence.